In the Garden with Pat Rubin

Bee garden writer Pat Rubin writes about everything that grows, from flowers and trees to vegetables and lawns. Pat volunteered for several years as a Placer County Master Gardener and has written about gardening for many national and regional publications. In addition to gardening, she spends time raising and showing miniature horses and miniature donkeys.

In the Garden will include news, events, advice and other gardening tidbits. Pat will also answer reader questions.

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« February 2008 | In the Garden front page | April 2008 »

March 31, 2008

Don't worry about thatch

Myth: Grass clippings cause thatch.

Answer: False. Grass clippings do not cause thatch.

In fact, leaving the clippings on your lawn is good for it. The clippings are high in water content, says Bruce Augustin, chief agronomist for the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company. They break down rapidly and add nutrients back to the soil.

The key, he says, is to time your mowings so you don’t mow too much off at one time. If you have your lawnmower set at three inches, mow the grass when it gets to four inches. Try to avoid mowing more than a third of its height off at one time.

And as for the dreaded thatch, it's a worry of the past, Augustin says.

“We just don’t see it or get many questions about it any more,” he says.

Thatch is a build-up of roots and stems. People don’t fertilize like they used to in the 50s, 60s or 70s, Augustin says, so there isn’t an excessive build up of slow-to-break-down stems and roots.

Bottom line: leave those clippings on the lawn, or if you must bag and remove them, turn them into compost.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 01:19 PM | Comments

March 27, 2008

Putting seedlings outdoors

I live at the 3,000-foot elevation. How do I move my tomato seedlings from indoor lights to the outside? When should I plant my tomatoes outside?
Andrew Peterson, Placerville

Moving seedlings from the warmth of indoors or of a greenhouse into the big, big world is called hardening off. The key point to remember is it is a gradual process.

Take any nice spring day, the sun is out, it isn’t windy, there is a definite feeling of warmth in the air. Put the seedlings outside in a protected spot for an hour or two. Bring them back in before the sun starts its downward trip.

Do the same thing the next day, but for an hour or two longer.

Repeat until the seedlings are out all day, then leave them overnight.

If you push them outside too soon, they’ll die from the shock.

For tomatoes, the seedlings should have at least one, preferably two or more, sets of true leaves. These are the leaves that look like tomato leaves, not the seedling leaves the plants have when they first sprout.

By late April, the plants can safely be in the ground. If you want to put them in the ground sooner, protect them with a piece of row cover, or a milk jug with the bottom cut out (a mini greenhouse), or products like the Wall-O-Water.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 01:38 PM | Comments

March 26, 2008

Pesky wild onion

Q: Every Spring, my yard is inundated with wild onion. It’s invaded the ground cover, shrubs, etc, but doesn’t seem to be established in any of the immediate neighbors’ yards. I’ve tried hand pulling, but it’s a relentless task with moderate results. Do you have any suggestion that might help?
Mark Marvelli, Sacramento

A: Wild onion, Allium canadensi, is a formidable opponent. Many gardeners have let it loose without realizing until too late it’s a thug in disguise.

At first it seems so innocent, even desirable and beautiful. What a wonderful ground-cover, you might say to yourself. It comes up in the spring, makes a lush, grassy carpet, and then blooms profusely.

And then you realize it’s out to take over the world. Suddenly those bright green strappy leaves are no longer beautiful or desirable.

It’s possible to eradicate wild onion from the garden, but it takes patience, perseverance and time, perhaps several years.

Pulling them out often breaks the leaves off at bulb or ground level, and lets the bulb live to sprout again. Better to dig them out.

You can mow them, and it will weaken the plants, but would take years to kill them, and you’d have to be meticulous about keeping them mowed so no bulb got a chance to grow and bloom.

The advantage to mowing and pulling, though, is that you’ll keep the plants from setting seed, which sprouts and grows exceedingly easily.

The third option is spraying the wild onion with an herbicide. But even spraying is difficult because the leaves are slick, almost glossy, and water runs right off of them, so you can imagine it’s hard to get the herbicide to stick. Add a spreader/sticker, available at nurseries and garden centers, to the herbicide mix.

The best offense is to combine all three. Spray the wild onion, let the spray have some time to take effect, and also mow, pull or dig them out. Then spray again.

The University of Clemson says spray in March and November (April isn’t too late), and recommends chemical treatments like Image, Roundup, Eraser, Trimec Southern or Bayer Advanced Southern Weed Killer for Lawns. Be sure to read the label since some of these herbicides are nonselective, which means they’ll kill any other plants they come in contact with, too.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 10:28 AM | Comments

March 24, 2008

Repotting a gardenia

Q: How long after buying a gardenia bush should I repot it? I live in an apartment but I have a beautiful ballcony. Should I replant it in a bigger pot?
Heather Britto, Gastonia NC

A: The gardenia can stay in the pot you brought it home in until it outgrows it, unless you want something more decorative. If that's the case, replant it at any time.

I like to leave a plant in its original pot for a few weeks just to make sure it gets acclimated to my garden before I start disturbing the roots and repotting it. After I'm sure it's going to like the spot on my deck where I'm going to leave it, I'll put it in a nicer pot than the black plastic ones the nurseries use.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 11:03 AM | Comments

Get ready, get set, get gardening

I’m gearing up for another year of The Bee Garden. Last year we built a four-foot-by-twelve-foot-by-twelve-inch raised bed, filled it with the best soil and compost we cold get, and set out to grow as much produce as we could. There were ups and downs, of course. I made mistakes (planted the tomatoes on the wrong side of the bed and they cast too much shade on the eggplant) and had successes (lots of tomatoes, arugula, basil and more).

This year I have a whole new plan for the garden. I’ve already started radishes, lettuce, carrots and arugula. And I always plant marigolds in the garden. I used to plant them because I’d read marigolds deter harmful nematodes, but discovered last year that only works if you plant the entire bed with French marigolds, then turn the whole crop under. Still, they look glorious with vegetables, so I’ve planted a few already this year. I’ll wait a bit longer before planting tomatoes and other warm weather crops because the soil is still too cold.

I want to invite you to garden along with me again this year, send questions, let me know about your successes and failures, and I’ll share the information in the Home and Garden section on Saturdays as well as on this blog.

Good luck for a bountiful gardening year.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 10:49 AM | Comments

March 21, 2008

The daffodils are blooming

More than 3,000 daffodils are in full bloom at Daffodil Hill. In fact, peak of bloom, weather permitting, is March 24-April 4.

The four-acre farm, located in Amador County about 12 miles from Jackson, is open daily, weather permitting, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Admission and parking are free.

Call (209) 296-7048 for information.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 01:36 PM | Comments

March 20, 2008

Seedling strength

Ever wonder how the nurseries get seedlings to have such strong, stout stems when the ones you grow at home get leggy so easily?

Two things: First, they make sure the seedlings get ample light soon as they sprout. If you’re using grow lights, put the lights three to five inches above the seedlings so they don’t have to stretch for light.

Second, keep a fan going gently across the seedlings. Or rub your hand gently back and forth across the tops of the seedlings for a minute or two several times a day.

The movement helps seedlings produce strong stems. It’s the same with trees. If they can move with the breeze, they grow stronger than ones tied tightly against supports.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 03:41 PM | Comments

March 19, 2008

Nut grass sneaks into garden

Q: Along with my free strawberry plants came blades of grass that didn’t bother me at the time. They turned out to be nut grass, and although many years have gone by, and try as I may digging with a shovel, I can't get the nuts with the roots. I’ve dug out lots of them but they multiply anyway. Is there hope of killing the nuts too? I have tried round up spray on the blades, but still they thrive. I am looking forward to another gardening season and would like to have dirt and no nut grass covering everything.
Gerry Sanders, Sacramento

A: At first you think it’s an innocent looking slim, blade of grass, or perhaps a choice, little-known bulb naturalizing itself in the rose bed. So you watch and wait. And more and more and more of the slim blades appear. And more, and more, and more. No gorgeous blossoms. So finally you pull one out. It snaps as you pull, letting you know part of the plant has broken off underground.
It’s nut grass, and it is the bane of gardeners everywhere. Herbicides don’t touch it, varmints don’t eat it, and the more you try to pull it out, the more it grows.

Mention nut sedge, or nut grass in front of a gardener, and their whole demeanor changes, they turn red in the face, talk about herbicides. It’s enough to drive a gardener crazy!

Like Bermuda grass, oxalis and vinca, it’s a thug that takes work to eradicate.
There are two types of nut sedge. The most common one has yellow flowers (Cyperus esculentus), though there is another with purple flowers (Cyperus rotundus).

Gardeners with experience with this pesky weed tell me the only way to get rid of it is to use a chemical control. Use Sedgehammer or Manage on the yellow nutgrass, and Image on the purple. Wait a few weeks and spray again. And again. Diligence is the operative word. Let any nutgrass live, and it will come back to haunt your garden again.

Be sure to follow label directions when using herbidices.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 04:43 PM | Comments

March 18, 2008

One rosarian's favorite roses for valley conditions

Someone recently left me a brief phone message: What are the best hybrid tea and floribunda roses for Sacramento Valley heat, she asked. Then, click, no phone number, no name.

That’s a great question, and one that forced me to call in a local expert, the American Rose Society master rosarian Baldo Villegas.

He found it tough, too.

“To come down with a short list of roses that do best for the area is just like saying ‘which are your favorite kids!’ Generally I like to recommend roses by color range, rather than just giving a short list of roses.”

Also, we know nothing about the reader’s garden or preferences. But here goes, Villegas says.

HYBRID TEAS
1) Gemini/Secret – best pink blend roses for the area; Of the two, Secret is more fragrant.
2) Veterans Honor/Black Magic/Let Freedom Ring – If you want red roses, you can't go wrong with any of these three roses especially as cut flowers; Black Magic is a very dark red rose that hold well in our heat.
3) Marilyn Monroe - If an apricot blend is your color, Marilyn is your rose but watch out for the thorns as she is the thorniest modern rose.
4) Neptune - If you want a different color, Neptune is a mauve blend rose that is also very fragrant and is a great cut flower as well.
5) Saint Patrick - Medium yellow, tolerates the heat of the Sacramento area and the bloom color ranges from greenish to medium yellow.

FLORIBUNDAS
1) Julia Child – This is a yellow-flowered floribunda that is always in bloom in my yard and produces. It looks great as a landscape rose as well as a cut flower.
2) Hot Cocoa – A russet colored rose whose color is always the attraction in my rose garden. It's always in bloom and a very healthy grower.
3) Bolero - A white rose with the old fashion quartered shaped flowers. It is very fragrant and the flowers are long lasting.
4) Sunsprite - A bright yellow rose that is always in bloom and very fragrant to boot. It is great as a cut flower as well as for landscape color.
5) Lavaglut (Lavaglow) - A medium to dark red rose that produces huge sprays of roses.
6) Playboy - For many years my favorite multicolored rose. It has shiny foliage and flowers with multicolored petals that start yellow and as the flowers age, the petal color changes from yellow to red towards the upper edges. It is one of the most colorful roses in my garden.

For more information about all things Sacramento and roses, visit Villegas’ Web site at www.sactorose.org.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 11:44 AM | Comments

March 14, 2008

More seeds have sprouted

I have two dozen tomato seedlings, two dozen romaine lettuce seedlings and an assortment of basil, cosmos, aster and broom corn seedlings that need to be repotted this weekend.

I started the seeds the first of March in three “mini-greenhouses” I bought at the nursery. They’re simply plastic trays that come with compressed peat pots and a clear, plastic lid that simulates greenhouse conditions. My tomato seeds were up in about six days, fewer for lettuce, cosmos and asters.

The trick now is to keep them from getting leggy. I’ve put them in front of the sliding glass door so they get plenty of sunshine. The weather outside is still too chilly to put most of them outdoors, even for a short time.

Meanwhile, we’ll live with a good deal of the vegetable garden in the house. I figure it will be at least another month before warm weather crops like tomatoes and peppers can go outside.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 01:27 PM | Comments

March 11, 2008

Don't miss the San Francisco garden show

Here’s a not-to-miss garden event well worth the drive to the Bay Area.

The San Francisco Flower and Garden Show starts tomorrow, March 12, at the Cow Palace in Daly City. It runs through March 16. Hours are Wednesday through Saturday 9 a.m.-8 p.m., Sunday 9 a.m.-6 p.m. It’s $20 to get in, although there are multi-day passes that are less expensive per day if you want to attend more than once, and there is a fee for parking.

The theme is “Make Life Beautiful,” and it showcases about 20 gorgeous demonstration gardens designed to inspire and awe, as well as plenty of garden seminars. Add hundreds of vendors selling everything from garden gloves to seeds to books to plants to pottery to art to clothing and more, and it’s a sure recipe for fun.

Wear comfortable shoes, and enjoy. Oh, take a bag or a small, portable cart to carry all the goodies you're sure to buy.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 11:21 AM | Comments

March 10, 2008

How many days until harvest?

When a seed packet states the number of days to maturity, is that day measured from the day the seed is planted or from the day of germination?
Dan Egan, Willits

A: The backs of seed packets contain a wealth of information designed to help gardeners be successful. So the seed companies try, in a tiny nutshell, to give you all the bits of advice you’ll need.

Days to maturity means the number of days it takes from the time you plant the seed until you harvest the first piece of fruit. Spinach takes 30 to 70 days, depending on the variety. Most varieties of sweet corn take 70 to 75 days, but can vary from 64 to 89 days. The sugary hybrid ‘Silver Queen’ takes 92 days. Radishes can take as few as 21 days, though an heirloom variety called Watermelon takes 60 days. Move to pumpkins and melons, and suddenly you’re dealing with crops that take as many as 120 days.

It’s an important number because it lets you figure out if your growing season is long enough for that particular vegetable to sprout and grow to maturity. Knowing how many days it takes a vegetable to sprout lets you plan ahead. You can take your last frost date, work backwards and figure out the best time to plant seeds so that the weather is mild enough when they’re ready to transplant into the garden.

That said, there are a few things you can do to speed up the process, and, by the same token, things you might do inadvertently to slow it.

If you plant outside, and the soil isn’t warm enough, the seed will sit and wait until soil temperatures warm to above 50 to 55 degrees. Bean seeds planted in cold, damp ground will rot.

If you’re planting in plastic or peat pots indoors or in a greenhouse with bottom heat, the seed might sprout more quickly.

The number isn’t exact because every situation is different. It’s just a guide.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 03:05 PM | Comments

March 07, 2008

The thrill of planting seeds

No matter how many years I’ve been gardening, no matter how many seeds I’ve planted and watched grow, I still get a thrill when I see seedlings emerge from the soil. It’s such an awe-inspiring, humbling experience.

On March 1, I planted seeds of a lettuce variety called Rubin --yes, that's the name! I found them in a Seed Savers Exchange catalog. I thought it would be a fun variety to have in my garden.

I planted them in peat pots purchased from a local nursery. It was one of those miniature greenhouse set-ups with compressed peat pots. Simply add water, let the pots expand, sprinkle two or three seeds in each pot, push a bit of peat over the seeds, put the clear plastic top on, and wait. The set-up has all it needs for the seeds to sprout: planting medium, moisture.

Once seedlings sprout, they’ll need light to grow, so I have the mini-greenhouse on a window sill that gets some sun, but not too much. You don’t want to cook the seedlings.

You’re supposed to leave the lid on until seedlings emerge, but I couldn’t resist taking it off and peeking. By March 3 the seedlings were starting to unfurl. I was so excited!

Now I’ll wait and let them grow. The first set of leaves are the seedling, or cotyledon, leaves. Next the plant will begin to produce true leaves, and when it’s a bit bigger, I’ll transplant the seedlings into four-inch pots, then finally into the garden.

Barring deer, earwigs, snails or slugs beating me to the harvest, I’ll let you know how Rubin lettuce tastes.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 10:54 AM | Comments

March 06, 2008

It's time to plant seeds

According to the seed-starting schedule from the Sacramento County master gardeners, the seeds you can plant this month directly in the vegetable garden are: beets, carrots, chard, corn, leeks, lettuce, mustard, potatoes and radish.

Seeds to start indoors: tomatoes, peppers, eggplant.

Flowers to start directly in the garden: aster, cosmos, cleome, celosia, gomphrena, larkspur, nasturtium, nicotiana, snapdragon, zinnia.

If you’re worried about slugs, snails, earwigs or other critters eating the tender seedlings, you can start the seeds indoors in pots and then transplant the seedlings into the garden when they’ve grown one or two sets of true leaves. Be sure to "harden them off," which simply means gradually exposing them to the outdoors, before you plant them.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 12:18 PM | Comments

March 05, 2008

Garden momentum growing

What a glorious few days we’ve had. Except for the chilly breeze, it was perfect gardening weather.

And garden I did.

I cleared away the remnants of the broccoli from one bed, thinned the chives and dug onions. Sadly, the onions weren’t ready, but now they’re compost.

I cut back the roses and the kniphofia. I pulled away the dead leaves from around the daylilies, dug out horseradish roots -- they’ll certainly come back -- trimmed long dead asters and cannas and tidied up the callas. I filled a huge wheelbarrow twice, and made a small dent in the garden.

But it’s a start, and now I can see clearly what still needs to be done.

Getting started each spring is the hardest part. A week ago I stood at the top of the vegetable garden almost in tears at what a mess it had become over the winter. All winter it seemed there was just enough rain and bad weather to keep me out of the garden. Whenever I was home, it was either too dark to garden or raining. When I was at work, the sun would shine. The dead corn stalks mocked me. The tomato cages still filled with last year’s vines haunted me. The weeds smirked and kept growing.

No longer. The vegetable garden is 90 percent tidied. I still need new bark for the paths, and one more bed needs to be weeded, but I planted radishes directly in the ground, and sowed tomatoes, lettuce and more in pots.

I've made a start, and nothing can stop the garden now.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 12:30 PM | Comments

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